I'mma Keep Him

Sooo I was stalking Nate's sister Jenna's blog the other day...and found some incredibly adorable pictures (thank you Jenna!) and I couldn't NOT  post one on here.  I'm guessing Nate was partially laughing in this photo because this is his completely genuine smile that I love so much.  Isn't he great?!

I'm a lucky girl.  Gosh I love this boy!

That is all :)

Month 5 ☺ Patience Is A Virtue

Wow I need to blog more than once a month!  Well, this month wasn't anything special.  It didn't go by fast, it didn't go by slow...oh wait, haha yes it did.  Overall it was alright, but there were a lot of days where honestly all I wanted was to have my best friend back.  Sometimes I just really miss the little things...like saying goodnight to Nate on the phone every night right before I go to sleep, sitting at our designated booth at Wendy's and getting the same meal every time, his fireplace, being able to come home and rant to him about anything and everything, all the fall-time activities we did together like carving pumpkins/corn mazes/frightmares, laughing uncontrollably with him, getting the biggest hug every time he showed up at my apartment etc.  Note to self: never take any moment I have with him for granted ever again!  And to all of you cute little couples who get to see your lover everyday, you don't know how lucky you are.  Really.  This month wasn't all bad though, here are some of the highlights:

~ My friend Becky, who I've been friends with since I was 5, got married.  She looked beautiful!  Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Morgan!  Also, my friends Jasmine and Sarah and I decided that it was our duty (as bridesmaids) to embarrass the happy couple and have their stereo blast "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye as soon as they turned on the car.  We even cracked the windows so that the whole crowd could experience the amazingness that was happening.

~ I witnessed an engagement last night at the Riverwoods.  I was probably way more excited than I should've been, but it was so happy I wanted to cry!  The song "One In A Million" by Ne-Yo started playing while 3 guys did a dance routine in front of the girl.  Then the guy pulled her in and got down on one knee.  So cute.  I can't wait until it's my turn.  

~ The second season of "New Girl" started.  That's joyous.

~ I bumped my fence while I was mowing the front lawn at my parents' house, and my neighbor's whole post and mailbox fell over.  And then my neighbor pulled into the driveway.  He had seen the whole thing.  Definitely a highlight of my month.

~ I opened my mailbox to see this about 4 times this month.  Nate never fails to make my day.  Love his letters.  Love him :)

Even though this month was slow, on the bright side we are 1/5 of the way through!  I feel like this next month will be a good one.  Nate has been in the city of Herne for a little while now and is loving it.  Nothing makes me happier than to hear that he is happy.  He loves the area and has an awesome companion.  We are now counting down to the 6-MONTH MARK people!!!  That is a big deal!

In other news....I still love my roommates...

I will try to post more often!  :)

Four

Nate is officially 1/6 done with his mission!  Time is finally going by quickly.  This past month has been a pretty great month for me because of a few things:

1)   I moved out of my parents' house again.  I now live with two of my best friends, Sarah and Jasmine, in a house!  It's pretty grand.

2)   I got my patriarchal blessing.  Absolutely amazing.

3)   I go to a new ward and it seems like it will be a ward I'll enjoy!

4)   I got a job at Zupas.  My outfit is ridiculous, but the people there are cool!  And my roommate Sarah works there too!

5)   School started today!  I'm so excited!  I never thought I would say that about school.  

6)   I got eyelash extensions and it was basically the best decision of my life.  Hurray!

7)   I got new pens at Walmart today.  Both black and colorful new Pilot G-2's.  It's exciting.  Don't ask.

8)   My sister now has Mario Kart Wii at her apartment.  I have missed that time-waster tremendously.

9)   Taco Bell is open until 2 am.  That is fantastic.  Mmmmm.

10)  My history textbook was only $1.88.  

So month 4 flew by!  I have been looking forward to when time would finally go faster!  May and June felt like 6 months.  July felt like 2 months.  And August felt like 2 weeks!  Oh the joy.  Nate is doing so good, and he says he is the happiest he's been his whole mission.  That makes me so happy!  I still write him once a week, no more and no less.  Words can't describe how much I love that boy!  

Oh yeah!  The cake.  So I was going to make cake with my roommates for Nate's 100-day mark because that day is totally worthy of celebration.  But then all of a sudden we all got busy and kept postponing the cake-makeage.  So we finally baked the cake, one week ago, but we were all too tired to decorate it after it got out of the oven.  Pathetic, I know.  Sooo we'll probably do that sometime in the future, even though it has been 125 days now?  What the flip?!  That went by fast.  

Also:

Beck's bridals!

Bestie is gettin' murried.  September 22.  Adorbs.

and

Wig Wednesday!

I love my roommates.

That is all :)

Just To Clarify

It has been brought to my attention by a few people that they are worried that I am too much of a distraction to Nate while he is on his mission.  I can assure you all that I am trying my best to give him the space he needs, and to not interfere with the work.  I understand that he is a missionary right now, and that missionaries really do need to have their complete focus on what they're doing.  The last thing that I would want to do is distract Nate while he is out there.  I want him to be able to fulfill all of his responsibilities out there and be able to focus on the people he’s teaching, and on having the Spirit with him.  And I want him to get the most he possibly can out of this mission experience without me being in the way.

I know that I get overly excited whenever I receive a letter from him, I post a lot on Facebook about him, and also have made this blog, but that’s just cause I do miss him a lot a lot a lot (can ya blame me?) but I can’t really tell him that, so the blog is sort of my journalish venting place in a way.  It’s kinda not easy saying goodbye to your best friend/boyfriend for two friggin years!  I’ve realized that because of all of these things, some people might think “well if she’s posting all of this stuff on facebook and she even has a blog about him, then she must be distracting him”….well no that’s not the case.  Nate cannot see any of my facebook stuff or my blog or anything else.  I don’t want his mind to be on me, I want his mind to be on the work.  All he sees from me is a short and sweet, encouraging letter once a week.  That is all, I promise! :) Part of the reason I made the blog is because I’ve seen a ton of other girls who are waiting for missionaries make similar blogs, and I was bored one day so I created one of my own.  (P.S. - sorry my blog is so incredibly cheesy.  Hahahaha)  I’m sorry if it seems like a little too much with all of the things I post about him, but I didn’t mean for it to seem like that and my intention never was to be distracting.  I love him more than most of you know, and I have tried to just be a source of encouragement and support for him.  I don’t want him to be worried about me at all while he’s in Germany, because he has no reason to be.  I also don’t want him to be thinking about me too much while he’s out there, and I try to make my letters fairly short so that they don’t take up much of his time.

Yes, I write a letter to him every week, but they are only a page or two each.  I never write things like “I miss you so much”, or “I wish you could come home”, or “Time is going so slow this sucks”.  I only tell him things like how proud I am of him, and how everything is going to work out how it‘s supposed to, how I love hearing about his investigators, and how I am so excited that he has this opportunity to bring people the gospel in Germany.  I try to write letters that I know will brighten his day and make him want to keep working hard and doing what he’s doing.  I’m sorry if it seemed like I was doing otherwise, but I really am not.  I’ve had 3 brothers who went on missions, and I have heard so many stories about their companions who had distracting girlfriends who just made them depressed and made them wish that they could go home.  I am not doing that.  Even though I do miss him more than anything, I am trying my hardest to be the best “missionary girlfriend” that I can be.  If I had the choice between him coming home or him staying out there, I would hands down choose for him to stay out there, because I know that Germany is exactly where he’s supposed to be right now and that he will be blessed and bless the lives of many people there.  It really does make me so happy to think that the guy I love is giving two years of his life to serve the Lord and bringing others the eternal happiness that him and I will have.  Yes it’s not easy at all being away from Nate with no communication except written letters, but I know that the time will come when I will have him back again.  I know that things in life need to happen in the right order, and that means serving a mission before he can be mine.

Him and I have known ever since we met that he had a mission ahead of him.  He wanted to serve a mission, and I also wanted him to go on a mission.  We developed a strong relationship, and we both knew that his mission meant that most of our forms of communication would be cut off for twenty-four months.  However, we both know exactly where we stand with each other, and neither of us need to worry about the other in that way.  I know that Nate knows just as much as I do that I will always be here for him.  And I promise that I really am giving him the space he needs to focus on the work, and I am doing only enough through letters to let him know that I care about him and love him and support him.

Sorry for the rant, but I just had to make sure that ya’ll understood :)

Month 3: Complete

Wellll it looks like another month is gone!  See ya month #3!  Never come back again! Twenty one months left.  I can do this.  I can't believe it's been 92 days since I last saw Nate!  We are almost to the big "Day 100"!  I have already warned my friends that we will be making cake on that day and celebrating, complete with candles, pictures, and party hats.  Yes.  It's going to happen.

This past month wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Everyone says the third month is the absolute worst, but it has been the best month so far.  The days went by a little faster and I got a couple of cutesy-poo letters from Nate that I can read whenever I miss him too much.  I freakin love that boy so much.  And I love thinking that he is out there serving the Lord and bringing eternal happiness to families in Germany.  I can wait another year and nine months to be with him, even though it sucks sometimes.  God is teaching me a lovely lesson of patience that apparently I needed to learn.  I still haven't missed a week of sending Nate a letter, and sometimes I write twice a week.  It's like my weekly "date" that I have with him, except I don't even have to get ready or leave my house.  Pretty great, right?  Plus it only costs a dollar and five cents per date.  So it's a pretty good dealio.  My goal is to never miss a single week of writing a letter throughout the entire two years.

I'm hoping that this next month will go by pretty quickly since I will be moving out and living with my best friends.  I'm absolutely stoked for that.  The other day, I was talking to my friend Jasmine about the house and I said "So what time does your mail usually come?".  She gave me the weirdest look and said "Out of all the questions about the house, that's the first thing you want to know.  Of course."  Hahahaha yes.  Knowing what time the mail comes is kind of an important thing for me. Anyways....I am excited for this next month and hopefully it will be a good one!

Romney For President

Well....Mitt Romney already had my vote but this just solidified that.  Haha.  His wife Ann waited for him!  This video was too gosh darn great to not post.  Enjoy.

That Glorious Moment...

...when you finally hear the mailman, so you run outside and get the mail…..and there’s nothing.  You do that slow “walk of shame” back into your house.  You go upstairs to your room….and hear the mailman outside again!  You look out your window and the mailman is coming back!!!  And he stops in front of YOUR mailbox! Your hope is re-kindled.  But then he puts an envelope in your neighbor’s mailbox instead.

You suck, mailman.

Lamesauce

You know what's lame?  Celebrating your favorite holiday (July 4th) without your boyfriend and spending the whole day with your parents because all of your friends are either gone, engaged, or have boyfriends who are not miles and miles away.

You know what's even more  lame?  International Kissing Day.  Yup.  Today, my friends, is International Kissing Day.  I guess I'll celebrate by writing a letter to my boy and kissing the paper with bright red lipstick. Everyone be jealous cause it's a party at my house! Woohoo!

However, there is some good news today.  Today is Day 73 since Nate left.  What does this mean?

I am 1/10th done with the waiting process!!!  Yeah buddy :)

Two Months

TODAY marks two months since Nathan left on his mission.  That is...

1 / 12th

61 days

8%

kind of a big deal.

This is what 2 months looks like:

I'm feeling about a million times better than I was even just a month ago.  Two months ago...yeah, let's just be grateful that's over.  Time is starting to pick up a little bit!  This past month my brother got married, i went to seven peaks for the first time this year, my cute niece stayed at our house for 10 days, Nate flew to Germany and loves it there, and I got a phonecall from him on June fifth :) It was short, but talking to him was seriously the greatest thing in the world and exactly what I needed.  I miss that boy more than words can express, but I am so proud of him and what he's doing.  They say the beginning is always the hardest.  AMEN to that!  Word on the street is that the third month is the worst...bring it on.  I know that this whole distance thing isn't the easiest thing for either me or Nate, but I know that it will be more than worth it in the end.  I really would do anything for him, and if that means waiting two years for him, so be it.  It adds a whole new dimension to a relationship when the only communication you have is through a pen and paper.  Writing letters has become something that's actually really fun for me!  I've written to him at least once every single week since he left, and I hope he can feel my support and love through the paper.  Love you Elder Hamilton!  We can do this!

Song of the month:

See You Again - Carrie Underwood

Hitched

Weddings  are one of my favorite things.  I love everything about them.  I love wedding dresses, bridesmaids outfits, wedding cakes, flowers, love songs, engagement rings, decorations, wedding videos, temples, and everything else that has to do with a wedding.  Sometimes when I'm bored I watch marriage proposal clips on this wonderful website because they just make me happy.

And yes I've spent countless hours on Pinterest picking out things I want for my wedding in the future (make fun of me all you want...i'm not ashamed).

June 16th was a really special day for my family.  My brother was sealed to the love of his life in the Mount Timpanogos Temple for time and all eternity.  Does it get any better than that?!

Congratulations to Jared and Rachelle!

Cute lil' couple who got themselves marriaged :)

My new sister-in-law and I:

And they're off!

I couldn't be happier for my brother and I'm so excited to have Rachelle as part of the family now :)

Called To Serve

This is my adorable missionary :

Let me tell ya'll about the past year or so.  Warning...this is gonna be a really long post.

1 year :) Nov 18, 2011

Nathan and I have both known for over a year that we were meant to be together.  He has become my best friend and the one who I am closest with.  He has literally every quality I've ever wanted and I really couldn't ask for anything more than what he is.  He has treated me better than I ever expected anyone to and he knows me down to every last detail.  Him and I have shared countless memories together and the time I've known him has been the happiest time of my life.  Last year around this time, we both graduated from Timpanogos High School.  After graduation, we had the best summer together.  But after that, it was time for him to start thinking about his mission.  He knew he wanted to serve one, and I knew I wanted him to serve one.  Soon enough he began working on his mission papers.  Not long after that it was already the day of our one year anniversary from when he asked me out.  That day was a really special day for us.  We both dressed up and went to a nice restaurant, and then he took me to the exact spot where he had asked me out one year earlier.  We got out of the car and stood there talking about the past year, even though it was snowing really hard (the only time it actually snowed last winter).  This time instead of asking me if I would be his girlfriend, he said "will you wait for me?".  Easiest answer in the world...YES.  Of course we both already knew the answer to that, he just wanted to be cute and ask me anyways.  (this post is going to be full of cheesiness so beware...we are just cheesy people) He also gave me a promise ring cause that's what cheesy people do, and I've worn it everyday since.  

The next month flew by and the reality that he would be leaving me started to really sink in.  I had known for a very long time that he would be going on a mission, but it had always seemed really far ahead.  Now it was actually starting to feel somewhat real.  Nate submitted his papers in the beginning of January, and on January 18th, the big white envelope came in the mail.  The postage on it was $1.68 and we couldn't tell if that meant if it was going to be stateside or foreign, or if it even meant anything at all.  Nate really  wanted to go foreign.  All of his family came over that night to watch him open his call.  I sat there freaking out in my head about when it would say he would be leaving.  "Dear Elder Hamilton, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the Germany, Frankfurt mission".  Aahh! Germany?! That's exactly where he wanted to go!  If that's not proof that the Lord knows each of us individually, I don't know what is.  By the time he was done reading the rest of it, there were tears streaming down my face.  I couldn't help it.  My heart felt like it was going to explode with a million different emotions.  We both couldn't believe it, and Nate was absolutely stoked about his call.  I was so proud of him for being so willing to serve a mission for the Lord.

The next couple of months flew by.  We tried to go on a lot more "dates" instead of just hanging out at his house.  However, I knew that we had to start focusing less on us  and a lot more on him  preparing for his mission.  I don't think he could have prepared any better than he did.  He studied the scriptures for 1-2 hours every single day, studied the Preach My Gospel handbook, and took a weekly class to learn German.  I tried to help him with anything he needed and be as encouraging as I could.  Even though we knew everything would be okay, there were many days that we couldn't help but wonder about the future.  We tried to stay positive, but the thought of him leaving so soon was just plain old scary.  Two years is a long  time to be without the one you love, even if it is the best thing to do.  Looking back, our last month together was actually more painful than it was happy.  The fear of saying goodbye was in my mind all the time.  I didn't know how I was supposed to feel okay with him just gone.  Every time we talked about it I tried to let him know that we were going to be fine.  No stress.  The last thing I wanted was to make him feel like he was doing something that would hurt me, cause he wasn't, his mission would be the best thing that he could  do for us, but the heartache of it was inevitable.  I tried to reassure him that I'd be here for him and help him with anything he needed.

"The Goodbye" became a really tender subject, and we both cried a lot just thinking about it.  I constantly had a big knot in my stomach because i knew that it was coming up soon.  Having to say goodbye to Nate was like this big barrier that I just wanted to get ahead of.  The last couple of weeks were so hard, for me at least.  It got to the point where I just wanted him to be gone already and have the saying goodbye part over with.  We were both so sick of waiting for the wait.  I helped him make packing lists and went with him to buy things that he needed.  Our last week together was probably the most emotional week of my life.  We spent lots of time together, which most people probably would think was a bad idea but I don't regret it.  I was grateful for every moment I got to have with him.  Being with him less wouldn't have made the goodbye any easier.

Sunday was his farewell.  Two of my best friends and my family came to support Nate and I, which meant a lot.  I sat with my friends on the very front row and listened to the most amazing talk given by the soon-to-be Elder Hamilton and I spent the rest of the day over at his house with his awesome family.  Let me just say something about his family.  Nate has the coolest family ever.  Each one of them is always so nice and so welcoming.  His dad is hilarious and likes to intimidate people, and his mom always makes sure you are well-fed and is the biggest sweetheart you'll ever meet.  His brothers are awesome and his five sisters are all super gorgeous.  I loved spending time with his family, especially Jenna and Joey who we spent lots  of time with.  Anyways, Nate did a super good job on his talk and I couldn't be more proud of him.

April 22, 2012

 I remember two days before he left, we were sitting in my apartment just cuddling.  We sat there in silence, although my radio was on softly in the background.  A Kelly Clarkson song started playing, the one that goes "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and he just broke down which automatically made me start crying as well.  It. Sucked.  That night, we went on our last date together.  We bought some food and went up Provo Canyon and had a little picnic.  It was so peaceful and quiet up there and was definitely a perfect last official date for two years.

Last Date :)

April 24th was our last day together and it went by so slowly.  We went to wendy's for the last time together and sat in our designated booth (we've sat in the same booth there since 2010...kinda our thing).  Then we did some last minute packing and shopping, and had a BBQ with his family.  This was the night that he would be set apart as a missionary at 9:00 pm, which meant it was also the night we had to say goodbye.  We both decided it would be best for me to not go to the MTC with his family to drop him off the next day because having to shake hands goodbye would definitely not be a fun thing to do.  After dinner, we just chilled at his house waiting for 8:45 to come.  I was on the verge of tears all night and it took everything I had not to cry in front of his family.  Before we knew it, my friends were calling me saying they were outside ready to pick me up.  This was the moment we had been dreading for such a long time and I couldn't believe it was actually happening.  This was it.  The final goodbye for two whole years.  We stood there hugging in front of his house for about five minutes and we were both just hysterical with tears.  It was definitely not a pretty sight.  I gave him one last little kiss, told him good luck, and that I loved him more than anything and I would be right here waiting for him.  Walking away from him was by far the  hardest thing I have ever had to do.  The most heartbreak I've ever felt in my life.  I looked back at him one more time and then got in the car with my friends.  Sarah drove to Ridley's and bought a ton of sugar and chocolate for me and Jasmine stayed in the car with me while I sobbed my face off to her.  I tried but I could not stop crying for almost an hour.  But I was so grateful that my best friends were there for me that night, it was exactly what I needed.  Sarah Hulet and Jasmine Fullmer, I don't think you two know how much it meant to me to have you be there that night.  Thank you girls!

Nate entered the MTC on the afternoon of April 25, 2012.  Next time I will post all about what has happened after that day :)  Hooray for the goodbye being over!!! Hallelujah to the world :)

So that...is my big giant story of my boyfriend leaving on his mission.

Dear Nathan...

The Story Of Us

I figure that if there's anyone reading this that doesn't know much about Nate and I...here's some background :


Nate and I met in the beginning of October 2010.  The first time we met was through the Hogi Yogi drive thru. One of my best friends (Becky) had a boyfriend (Asher) who was Nate's best friend.  So Nate hung out with Asher, who hung out with Becky, who hung out with me.  It's not as complicated as it sounds haha.  Anyways, Becky and Asher would come and visit me while I was at work at Hogi Yogi, and eventually Nate started coming with them.  I recognized his face from Junior High, but I had never talked to him before.  I really hadn't thought much of him because I'd had a couple of relationships before that and they weren't anything special...long story short...i really didn't want another relationship until I at least started college.  I was seventeen.  I didn't believe that couples in high-school could really share something that wasn't a waste of time.  However, Nate seemed like a genuinely good guy, so I decided it would be fine if I flirted with him whenever he came to visit me at work.  Little did I know that my whole life was going to change, a lot, because of this boy.  Then Halloween came.  I went trick-or-treating with Becky, Asher, Nate, and Sarah.  I ended up flirting with Nate a lot more than I meant to because I was really hyper that night.  After trick-or-treating, we all went back to Nate's house to watch a movie.  Of course I sat next to Nate, and all I could think about the whole time was how I wished he would put his arm around me.  That was the night I began to actually like-like Nate.  Conveniently, he got his first cell phone right after that, and we began texting...lots.  He always said the sweetest things to me, and he started visiting me at work without  Becky and Asher.  It was only a couple of  weeks before we both knew that we were very interested in each other.  I don't know how many people know this, but I actually purposefully got a failing grade in my A-4 class so that I could go to study hall during the period that Nate had study hall.  Then at the end of the term I tried to bring my grade back up fast.


November 18th, 2010 was a very memorable day, and night.  Nate's brother had gotten married that day and I helped to set up the reception.  After the reception, we went to the Cinemark by University Mall because our friends were there waiting in line for the Harry Potter midnight premiere, even though it was cold and snowing.  We didn't see the movie, we just wanted to talk to our friends.  On the way back to the car, before he opened my door, he gave me a big long hug, said some cheesy-cutesy stuff, and asked me if I would be his girlfriend.  I was so excited, and said yes of course.  We then went to a few places that presented perfect opportunities for a kiss, like the roof of rocky mountain elementary school, but no matter how obvious it was that I wanted Nate to kiss me, he wouldn't do it.  A little before midnight, we were at Northridge Park standing on the playground bridge.  It was freezing, so he put his arms around me and we stood there for awhile just talking.  Finally I decided that if he didn't have the guts to kiss me, then I would just kiss him.  After all, we were in the perfect setting.  So I did, and it was absolutely perfect.  Then he took me home cause we had to make curfew, and I layed in my bed just thinking about how happy I was.  And that night was the beginning of the rest of our lives :)


Ever since then we have been inseparable.  We always had a blast whenever we were together.  We were together a lot because we went to high school together everyday, plus he lives literally one minute away from me.  And what I liked the most was that I could completely be myself around him.  His personality clicked perfectly with mine.  My friends tell me that he is like the boy version of me haha.  No situation was ever awkward or embarrassing with him.  My feelings for him grew a lot faster than I had expected they would, and within two months, I found myself falling in love with him.  I wanted to tell him so badly, but I didn't know if I should wait until he said it first.  On February 5th, 2011, we sat in his car for about two hours just talking about life.  I couldn't hold it in anymore and while we were sitting there at Northridge Park, I told him for the first time that I loved him.  He got teary-eyed and told me so sweetly that he loved me too and that he had wanted to say it to me for awhile.  It was the cutest thing ever.  He continued to amaze me and I couldn't deny what I felt for him.  It was a billion times stronger than I had ever felt with anyone else before.  A couple of weeks after that, we both knew that we were going to spend our lives together.  It was a crazy feeling knowing that, but at the same time it was the best feeling in the world.  Nate has treated me like a queen from day 1 and has never let me down.  I can't imagine being with anybody else and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have found "the one" at the age of seventeen.  Him and I have been together for 19 months now.  We never spent more than two days apart, except for when he was in Mexico for a week and when I was in New York for a week.  We've been through a lot together and we've had our fights and disagreements, but I love him more than I thought was possible.  He means the world to me.  This is probably the cheesiest story you guys will ever read...haha...but I don't care.  I'm a sucker for romance anyways.


So that is the shortened version of how Nate and I became what we are.  Obviously there is a lot more for me to say because of the topic of his mission, but I will post all about that next time :)


Here's some of our pictures :

our very first picture together

one of our first dates

our first new year's :)

preference 2011

high school graduation

summer 2011

halloween 2011

our 1-year anniversary

utah lake - january 2012

valentine's day 2012

Finally

I have been planning on creating a blog for about two months now, but I haven't because I've been busy.  Oh wait, that's not it, it's cause i'm lazy.  Oh well.  Now that I have moved back home, school has ended, my boyfriend left, and I work from home right now, you can guess that I have a lot of time on my hands.  So, I'm becoming part of the cool-kids group and starting a blog.  Yay.  Not that I expect anybody to actually read what I have to say...but at least I can keep it as kind of a journal-type thing for the future.  As it says in the "about me" section, this blog will be about mine and Nate's experiences and other random things over the next two years.